[
  [
    "Jim Parsons James Joseph Parsons (born March 24, 1973) is an American actor. He is known for playing Sheldon Cooper in the CBS sitcom \"The Big Bang Theory\". He has received several awards for his performance, including four Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Television Series Musical or Comedy. In 2011, Parsons made his Broadway debut portraying Tommy Boatwright in the play \"The Normal Heart\", for which he received a Drama Desk Award nomination. He reprised the role in the film adaptation of the play,",
    "Sheldon Cooper Sheldon Lee Cooper, Ph.D., Sc.D., is a fictional character in the CBS television series \"The Big Bang Theory\" and its spinoff series \"Young Sheldon\", portrayed by actors Jim Parsons in \"The Big Bang Theory\" and Iain Armitage in \"Young Sheldon\" (with Parsons as the latter series' narrator). For his portrayal, Parsons has won four Primetime Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, a TCA Award, and two Critics' Choice Television Awards. The character's childhood is the focus of \"Young Sheldon\": the series' first season is set in 1989 when nine-year-old prodigy Sheldon has skipped ahead five grades, to start",
    "retained in both pilots were Leonard (Johnny Galecki) and Sheldon (Jim Parsons), who are named after Sheldon Leonard, a longtime figure in episodic television as producer, director and actor. Althea (Vernee Watson) was a minor character that appeared in both pilots. The first pilot included two female lead characters who were not used in the second pilot. The characters were Canadian actress Amanda Walsh as Katie, \"a street-hardened, tough-as-nails woman with a vulnerable interior,\" and Iris Bahr as Gilda, a scientist colleague and friend of the male characters. Sheldon and Leonard meet Katie after she breaks up with a boyfriend",
    "gratitude (\"I possess the DNA of Leonard Nimoy?!\"). \"\" cast member George Takei has made a cameo, and Leonard Nimoy made a cameo as the voice of Sheldon's vintage Mr. Spock action figure (both cameos were in dream sequences). \"\" cast members Brent Spiner and LeVar Burton have had cameos as themselves, while Wil Wheaton has a recurring role as a fictionalized version of himself. They are also fans of \"Star Wars\", \"Battlestar Galactica\", and \"Doctor Who\". In the episode \"The Ornithophobia Diffusion\", when there is a delay in watching \"Star Wars\" on Blu-ray, Howard complains, \"If we don't start",
    "Leonard Hofstadter Leonard Leakey Hofstadter, Ph.D., is a fictional character in the CBS television series \"The Big Bang Theory\", in which he is portrayed by actor Johnny Galecki. Leonard is an experimental physicist, who shares an apartment with colleague and best friend Dr. Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons). For his portrayal, Galecki was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award in 2011. It is possible that Leonard is based on the show's co-creator, Bill Prady, back when he was a computer programmer. Leonard has been described as the straight man of the series. Penny (Kaley Cuoco) is",
    "nominations. Parsons also won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Television Comedy Series in 2011. The series has so far won 56 awards from 216 nominations. It has also spawned a prequel series in 2017 based on Parsons' character, Sheldon Cooper, named \"Young Sheldon\", which originally aired on CBS. The show's pilot episode premiered on September 24, 2007. This was the second pilot produced for the show. A different pilot was produced for the 2006\u201307 television season but never aired. The structure of the original unaired pilot was substantially different from the series' current form. The only characters",
    "the pilot. Created by Lorre and Molaro, the series follows 9-year-old Sheldon Cooper as he attends high school in East Texas. Alongside Armitage as 9-year-old Sheldon Cooper and Perry as Mary Cooper, Lance Barber stars as George Cooper, Sheldon's father; Raegan Revord stars as Missy Cooper, Sheldon's twin sister; and Montana Jordan as George Cooper Jr., Sheldon's older brother. Jim Parsons reprises his role as adult Sheldon Cooper, as narrator for the series. Parsons, Lorre, Molaro and Todd Spiewak will also serve as executive producers on the series, for Chuck Lorre Productions, Inc. in association with Warner Bros. Television. The",
    "lives across the hall; and Leonard and Sheldon's similarly geeky and socially awkward friends and co-workers, aerospace engineer Howard Wolowitz and astrophysicist Raj Koothrappali. Over time, supporting characters have been promoted to starring roles including: physicist Leslie Winkle, neuroscientist Amy Farrah Fowler, microbiologist Bernadette Rostenkowski, and Stuart Bloom, the cash-strapped owner of the comic book store the characters often visit. The show is filmed in front of a live audience and is produced by Warner Bros. Television and Chuck Lorre Productions. \"The Big Bang Theory\" received mixed reviews from critics throughout its first season, but reception was more favorable in",
    "Johnny Galecki John Mark Galecki (born April 30, 1975) is an American actor. He is known for playing Leonard Hofstadter in the CBS sitcom \"The Big Bang Theory\" (2007\u2013present) and David Healy in the ABC sitcom \"Roseanne\" (1992\u20131997; 2018). Galecki also appeared in the films \"National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation\" (1989), \"Prancer\" (1989), \"Suicide Kings\" (1997), \"I Know What You Did Last Summer\" (1997), \"Bookies\" (2003), \"In Time\" (2011), and \"Rings\" (2017). Galecki is one of the highest paid television actors in the world, with his role in \"The Big Bang Theory\" currently earning him approximately US$900,000 per episode between 2017",
    "and they invite her to share their apartment. Gilda is threatened by Katie's presence. Test audiences reacted negatively to Katie, but they liked Sheldon and Leonard. The original pilot used Thomas Dolby's hit \"She Blinded Me with Science\" as its theme song. Although the original pilot was not picked up, its creators were given an opportunity to retool it and produce a second pilot. They brought in the remaining cast and retooled the show to its final format. Katie was replaced by Penny (Kaley Cuoco). The original unaired pilot never has officially been released, but it has circulated on the",
    "The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory is an American television sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, both of whom serve as executive producers on the series, along with Steven Molaro. All three also serve as head writers. The show premiered on CBS on September 24, 2007. The twelfth and final season which will run through 2018\u201319 premiered on September 24, 2018, consisting of 24 episodes. The show originally centered on five characters living in Pasadena, California: Leonard Hofstadter and Sheldon Cooper, both physicists at Caltech, who share an apartment; Penny, a waitress and aspiring actress who",
    "Howard Wolowitz Howard Joel Wolowitz, M.Eng. is a fictional character on the CBS television series \"The Big Bang Theory\", portrayed by actor Simon Helberg. Among the main male characters in the show, Howard is distinctive for being an engineer rather than a physicist and lacking a doctoral degree. Howard is named after and based on a computer programmer known by the show's co-creator Bill Prady. Howard is the only starring character who has been to the International Space Station. Along with Sheldon Cooper, Leonard Hofstadter, and Raj Koothrappali, Howard is one of the only characters to appear in every episode",
    "The Infestation Hypothesis \"The Infestation Hypothesis\" is the second episode of the fifth season of \"The Big Bang Theory\" that first aired on CBS on September 22, 2011. It is the 89th episode overall. In it, Sheldon (Jim Parsons) becomes worried when Penny acquires a new chair, while Leonard (Johnny Galecki) tries to make his long distance relationship with Priya work. The episode was watched by nearly 12 million viewers in the U.S. and received mixed reviews. Sheldon and Penny (Kaley Cuoco) are in her apartment; the two of them are reading. Sheldon is sitting in Penny's new chair and",
    "has been out of order throughout the first 11 seasons, forcing characters to have to use the stairs. Stairway conversations between characters occur in almost every episode, often serving as a transition between longer scenes. A season 3 episode reveals that the elevator was broken when Leonard was experimenting with rocket fuel. Like most shows created by Chuck Lorre, \"The Big Bang Theory\" ends by showing for one second a vanity card written by Lorre after the credits, followed by the Warner Bros. Television closing logo. These cards are archived on Lorre's website. Initial reception for the series was mixed.",
    "Lorre and Molaro, with Prady expected to be involved in some capacity, and intended to air in the 2017\u201318 season alongside \"The Big Bang Theory\". The initial idea for the series came from Parsons, who passed it along to \"The Big Bang Theory\" producers. In early March 2017, Iain Armitage was cast as the younger Sheldon, as well as Zoe Perry as his mother, Mary Cooper. Perry is the real-life daughter of Laurie Metcalf, who portrays Mary Cooper on \"The Big Bang Theory\". On March 13, 2017, CBS ordered the spin-off \"Young Sheldon\" series. Jon Favreau directed and executive produced",
    "The Big Bang Theory (season 5) The fifth season of the American sitcom \"The Big Bang Theory\" was originally aired on CBS from September 22, 2011, to May 10, 2012, over 24 episodes. At the 64th Primetime Emmy Awards, \"The Big Bang Theory\" was nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series, but \"Modern Family\" on ABC won. The show was also nominated for Outstanding Technical Direction, Camerawork, Video Control for a Series and Outstanding Multi-Camera Picture Editing For A Comedy Series. Jim Parsons (Sheldon Cooper) was nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for \"The Werewolf Transformation\", but lost out",
    "JoAnna Garcia JoAnna Garc\u00eda Swisher (born JoAnna Garcia on August 10, 1979) is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Sam in \"Are You Afraid of the Dark?\" (1993\u201396), Vicki Appleby in \"Freaks and Geeks\" (1999\u20132000), and Cheyenne Hart-Montgomery on The WB/CW sitcom \"Reba\" (2001\u201307). She has also gained popularity with her acting roles in \"Privileged\" (2008\u201309), \"Better with You\" (2010\u201311), \"Animal Practice\" (2012), \"Once Upon a Time\" (2013\u201318) and \"The Astronaut Wives Club\" (2015)\".\" Garc\u00eda was born in Tampa, Florida, to a Cuban father. Her mother, Loraine, was a homemaker and former elementary school teacher, and",
    "Simon Helberg Simon Maxwell Helberg (born December 9, 1980) is an American actor, comedian, and musician. He is best known for his role as Howard Wolowitz in the sitcom \"The Big Bang Theory\" (2007\u2013present), for which he won a Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, and as Cosm\u00e9 McMoon in the film \"Florence Foster Jenkins\" (2016), which earned him a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture. Helberg has appeared on the sketch comedy series \"MADtv\" and is also known for his role as Moist in Joss Whedon's web",
    "James Burrows, who did not continue with the show. The reworked second pilot led to a 13-episode order by CBS on May 14, 2007. Prior to its airing on CBS, the pilot episode was distributed on iTunes free of charge. The show premiered on September 24, 2007, and was picked up for a full 22-episode season on October 19, 2007. The show is filmed in front of a live audience, and is produced by Warner Bros. Television and Chuck Lorre Productions. Production was halted on November 6, 2007, due to the Writers Guild of America strike. Nearly three months later,",
    "didn't know it wasn't the case, so when the creators of \"The Big Bang Theory\" started talking about the show, I was embarrassed. I can't understand why our people first do, and then think. I consider this to be the rock bottom of my career. And I don't want to take part in a stolen show\". In November 2016, it was reported that CBS was in negotiations to create a spin-off of \"The Big Bang Theory\" centered on Sheldon as a young boy. The prequel series, described as \"a \"Malcolm in the Middle\"-esque single-camera family comedy\" would be executive-produced by",
    "renewed again for three more years through the 2016\u201317 season. This marks the second time the series has gained a three-year renewal. In March 2017, the series was renewed for two additional seasons, bringing its total to 12, and running through the 2018\u201319 television season. David Saltzberg, a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of California, Los Angeles, checks scripts and provides dialogue, mathematics equations, and diagrams used as props. According to executive producer/co-creator Bill Prady, \"We're working on giving Sheldon an actual problem that he's going to be working on throughout the [first] season so there's actual",
    "Brian Posehn Brian Edmund Posehn (born July 6, 1966) is an American actor, voice actor, musician, writer, and comedian, known for his roles as Jim Kuback on The WB's \"Mission Hill\" and Brian Spukowski on Comedy Central's \"The Sarah Silverman Program\". He also has a recurring role on \"The Big Bang Theory\" as geologist Bert Kibbler. Posehn was born and raised in Sacramento, California. He is of German and Irish descent. He graduated from Sonoma Valley High School in 1984. He attended college at California State University, Sacramento. Posehn began with guest appearances and mainly small roles in TV shows.",
    "Jonathan Harris Jonathan Harris (born Jonathan Daniel Charasuchin; November 6, 1914 \u2013 November 3, 2002) was an American character actor whose career included more than 500 television and movie appearances, as well as voiceovers. Two of his best-known roles were as the timid accountant Bradford Webster in the television version of \"The Third Man\" and the fussy villain Dr. Zachary Smith of the 1960s science fiction series \"Lost in Space\". Near the end of his career, he provided voices for the animated features \"A Bug's Life\" and \"Toy Story 2\". The second of three children, Harris was born to a",
    "The Russian Rocket Reaction \"The Russian Rocket Reaction\" is the fifth episode of the fifth season of \"The Big Bang Theory\" and the 92nd episode overall. It first aired on CBS on October 13, 2011. The episode features guest appearances by recurring character Wil Wheaton and \"\" actor Brent Spiner. In the subplot, Wil Wheaton invites Leonard (Johnny Galecki) and Sheldon (Jim Parsons) to a party that Brent Spiner attends. The main plot focuses on Howard (Simon Helberg) finding out he is going to the International Space Station. NASA picks a deep field space telescope to go on the International",
    "had a cameo appearance in the second season. Theoretical physicist Brian Greene appeared in the fourth season, as well as astrophysicist, science populizer, and physics outreach specialist Neil deGrasse Tyson, who also appeared in the twelfth season. Cosmologist Stephen Hawking made a short guest appearance in the fifth-season episode; in the eighth season, Hawking video conferences with Sheldon and Leonard, and makes another appearance in the 200th episode. In the fifth and sixth seasons, NASA astronaut Michael J. Massimino played himself multiple times in the role of Howard's fellow astronaut. Bill Nye appeared in the seventh and twelfth seasons. Much",
    "The Hawking Excitation \"The Hawking Excitation\" is the 21st episode of the fifth season of \"The Big Bang Theory\" that first aired on CBS on April 5, 2012. It is the 108th episode overall. After learning that Stephen Hawking is coming to lecture at Caltech, Howard (Simon Helberg) is hired to maintain his wheelchair equipment. When Sheldon (Jim Parsons) discovers this, he is desperate to meet Hawking. Howard says he can, but only if he completes a humiliating series of tasks. The final scene of the episode features a short cameo appearance by cosmologist Stephen Hawking. Hawking was revealed to",
    "the second and third seasons. Later seasons saw a return to a lukewarm reception, with the show being criticized for a decline in comedic quality. Despite the mixed reviews, seven seasons of the show have ranked within the top ten of the final television season ratings; ultimately reaching the no. 1 spot in its eleventh season. The show was nominated for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series from 2011 to 2014 and won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series four times for Jim Parsons. It has so far won 7 Emmy Awards from 46",
    "Fermi paradox The Fermi paradox, or Fermi's paradox, named after physicist Enrico Fermi, is the apparent contradiction between the lack of evidence and high probability estimates for the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations. The basic points of the argument, made by physicists Enrico Fermi (1901\u20131954) and Michael H. Hart (born 1932), are: According to this line of reasoning, the Earth should have already been visited by extraterrestrial aliens. In an informal conversation, Fermi noted no convincing evidence of this, leading him to ask, \"Where is everybody?\" There have been many attempts to explain the Fermi paradox, primarily either suggesting that intelligent",
    "is the first episode in which Sheldon initiates a kiss with Amy. Although initially done in a fit of sarcasm, he discovers that he enjoys the feeling. Consequently, Sheldon slowly starts to open up over the rest of the season, and starts a more intimate relationship with Amy. However, in the season finale, Sheldon leaves temporarily to cope with several changes and Amy becomes distraught. However, in \"The Prom Equivalency\", he hides in his room to avoid going to a mock prom reenactment with her. In the resulting stand-off, Amy is about to confess that she loves Sheldon, but he",
    "Wentworth Miller Wentworth Earl Miller III (born June 2, 1972) is an American actor and screenwriter. He rose to prominence following his role as Michael Scofield in the five seasons of the Fox series \"Prison Break\", for which he received a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role. He made his screenwriting debut with the 2013 thriller film \"Stoker\". In 2014, he began playing Leonard Snart / Captain Cold in a recurring role on The CW series \"The Flash\" before becoming a series regular on the spin-off \"Legends of Tomorrow\". Miller was born in Chipping Norton,",
    "Fay Neman's name is a reference to physicist Richard Feynman. Detectives Poley (William Fichtner), Frizer (Thomas Kretschmann), and Skeres (Delroy Lindo) are interrogating Ned Cruz (Antonio Banderas), a Los Angeles private investigator, who tells them that five years earlier, Russian mobster Skinny Faddeev gave $30 million in blood diamonds as an advance to Anton (Robert Maillet), a boxer, to intentionally lose a fight against his nephew. However, during the fight, Anton unintentionally killed the nephew. When Skinny was found dead, Anton was sentenced to life in prison. While Anton was in prison, he received over 200 letters from a woman",
    "The Truman Show The Truman Show is a 1998 American satirical science fiction film directed by Peter Weir, produced by Scott Rudin, Andrew Niccol, Edward S. Feldman, and Adam Schroeder, and written by Niccol. The film stars Jim Carrey as Truman Burbank, adopted and raised by a corporation inside a simulated television show revolving around his life, until he discovers it and decides to escape. Additional roles are performed by Laura Linney, Noah Emmerich, Natascha McElhone, Holland Taylor, Ed Harris, and Brian Delate. \"The Truman Show\" was originally a spec script by Niccol, inspired by an episode of \"The Twilight",
    "Penny (The Big Bang Theory) Penny is a fictional character on the American CBS sitcom \"The Big Bang Theory\", portrayed by actress Kaley Cuoco. She is the primary female character in the series, befriending her across-the-hall neighbors Leonard Hofstadter (Johnny Galecki) and Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons), two physicists who work at the nearby California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Penny's lack of advanced education, but outgoing personality and social aptitude drastically contrasts with the personalities of the primary male characters in the series, even though she is considered part of their group. She is the love interest of Leonard, with whom",
    "Kaley Cuoco Kaley Christine Cuoco ( ; ; born November 30, 1985) is an American actress and producer. After a series of supporting film and television roles in the late 1990s, she landed her breakthrough role as Bridget Hennessy on the ABC sitcom \"8 Simple Rules\", on which she starred from 2002 to 2005. Thereafter, Cuoco appeared as Billie Jenkins on the final season of the television series \"Charmed\" (2005\u20132006). Since 2007, she has starred as Penny on the CBS sitcom \"The Big Bang Theory\", for which she has received Satellite, Critics' Choice, and People's Choice Awards. Cuoco's film work",
    "Telly Savalas Aristotelis \"Telly\" Savalas (January 21, 1924 \u2013 January 22, 1994) was an American actor and singer whose career spanned four decades of television, noted for his resonant voice and his bald head. He also released the one-hit wonder song, \"If?,\" which he introduced in the UK in 1975. Savalas's career began in films in 1961. His movie credits include \"The Young Savages\" (1961), \"The Greatest Story Ever Told\" (1965), \"Battle of the Bulge\" (1965), \"The Dirty Dozen\" (1967), \"The Scalphunters\" (1968), supervillain Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the James Bond film \"On Her Majesty's Secret Service\" (1969), \"Kelly's Heroes",
    "James Garner James Garner (born James Scott Bumgarner; April 7, 1928 \u2013 July 19, 2014) was an American actor, producer, and voice artist. He starred in several television series over more than five decades, including such popular roles as Bret Maverick in the 1950s western series \"Maverick\" and Jim Rockford in \"The Rockford Files\", and played leading roles in more than 50 theatrical films, including \"The Great Escape\" (1963) with Steve McQueen, Paddy Chayefsky's \"The Americanization of Emily\" (1964), \"Grand Prix\" (1966), Blake Edwards' \"Victor/Victoria\" (1982), \"Murphy's Romance\" (1985), for which he received an Academy Award nomination, \"Space Cowboys\" (2000)",
    "a woman compatible with Sheldon and discover neurobiologist Amy Farrah Fowler. Like him, she has a history of social ineptitude and participates in online dating only to fulfill an agreement with her mother. This spawns a storyline in which Sheldon and Amy communicate daily while insisting to Leonard and Penny that they are not romantically involved. In \"The Agreement Dissection\", Sheldon and Amy talk in her apartment after a night of dancing and she kisses him on the lips. Instead of getting annoyed, Sheldon says \"fascinating\" and later asks Amy to be his girlfriend in \"The Flaming Spittoon Acquisition\". The",
    "Paul Feig Paul Samuel Feig (; born September 17, 1962) is an American actor, film director, producer and screenwriter. He is best known for directing films starring frequent collaborator Melissa McCarthy, including \"Bridesmaids\" (2011), \"The Heat\" (2013), \"Spy\" (2015), and \"Ghostbusters\" (2016). He also directed \"A Simple Favor\" (2018). Feig created the comedy series \"Freaks and Geeks\" (1999\u20132000) and \"Other Space\" (2015). He has also directed several episodes of the U.S version of \"The Office\", \"Arrested Development\", \"Weeds\" and \"Nurse Jackie\", as well as episodes of \"Mad Men\", \"30 Rock\", and \"Parks and Recreation\". He received nominations for two Primetime",
    "The Santa Simulation \"The Santa Simulation\" is the eleventh episode of the sixth season of the American comedy television series \"The Big Bang Theory\". The episode was originally aired on the CBS television network on December 13, 2012. The story was created by Chuck Lorre, Eric Kaplan and Steve Holland, and turned into a teleplay by Steven Molaro, Jim Reynolds, and Maria Ferrari. Mark Cendrowski directed the episode. The series depicts a group of male friends employed at the California Institute of Technology, and their relationships with others. In this episode, Leonard Hofstadter (Johnny Galecki) runs a Christmas-themed \"Dungeons &",
    "The Big Bang Theory (season 1) The first season of the American sitcom \"The Big Bang Theory\" was originally aired on CBS from September 24, 2007, to May 19, 2008, over 17 episodes. An unaired pilot also exists. The Season 1 DVD came without a gag reel and is, so far, the only \"Big Bang Theory\" DVD set not to have one. The reissued Blu-ray, was released July 10, 2012, and includes a gag reel that is exclusive to the set. The episodes on Blu-ray are all in remastered surround sound, whereas the DVD version had stereo. Two of the",
    "The Rhinitis Revelation \"The Rhinitis Revelation\" is the sixth episode of the fifth season of the US sitcom \"The Big Bang Theory\" and the 93rd episode of the show overall. It first aired on CBS on October 20, 2011. Sheldon's mother, Mary Cooper, is going on a Christian cruise called the \"Born Again Boat Ride\". Before the cruise, she has a weekend in Pasadena and visits Sheldon. However, he is upset when she does not do anything on his itinerary. Instead of his mother cooking chicken and making pecan pie, they go out to a restaurant for sushi; when doing",
    "Robert Woodrow Wilson Robert Woodrow Wilson (born January 10, 1936) is an American astronomer, 1978 Nobel laureate in physics, who with Arno Allan Penzias discovered in 1964 cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB). While working on a new type of antenna at Bell Labs in Holmdel Township, New Jersey, they found a source of noise in the atmosphere that they could not explain. After removing all potential sources of noise, including pigeon droppings on the antenna, the noise was finally identified as CMB, which served as important corroboration of the Big Bang theory. Robert Woodrow Wilson was born on January 10,",
    "Dean Jones (actor) Dean Carroll Jones (January 25, 1931 \u2013 September 1, 2015) was an American actor best known for his roles as Agent Zeke Kelso in \"That Darn Cat!\" (1965), Jim Douglas in \"The Love Bug\" (1968), Albert Dooley in \"The Million Dollar Duck\" (1971; for which he received a Golden Globe nomination) and Dr. Herman Varnick in \"Beethoven\" (1992). Jones was born in Decatur, Alabama, to Andrew Guy Jones (1901-1979), a traveling construction worker, and the former Nolia Elizabeth Wilhite (1902-1977). As a student at Riverside High School in Decatur, Jones had his own local radio show, \"Dean",
    "The Isolation Permutation \"The Isolation Permutation\" is the eighth episode of the fifth season of the US sitcom \"The Big Bang Theory\" and the 95th episode of the show overall. It first aired on CBS on November 3, 2011. In the episode, Amy becomes upset when Penny (Kaley Cuoco) and Bernadette go dress shopping without her. Bernadette and Penny are shopping for bridesmaid dresses; Howard inadvertently mentions this in front of Amy, who is upset that they did not invite her. Sheldon is unable to contact Amy: she does not answer Facebook messages, video chats or any other form of",
    "is budding. When Bernadette takes an interest in Leonard's work, it makes both Penny and Howard envious and results in Howard confronting Leonard, and Penny asking Sheldon to teach her physics. Sheldon and Amy also briefly end their relationship after an argument over which of their fields is superior. David Saltzberg, who has a Ph.D. in physics, has served as the science consultant for the show for six seasons and attends every taping. While Saltzberg knows physics, he sometimes needs assistance from Mayim Bialik, who has a Ph.D. in neuroscience. Saltzberg sees early versions of scripts which need scientific information",
    "and second seasons were only available on DVD at their time of release in 2008 and 2009. Starting with the release of the third season in 2010 and continuing every year with every new season, a Blu-ray disc set has also been released in conjunction with the DVD. In 2012, Warner Bros. released the first two seasons on Blu-ray, marking the first time that all episodes were available on the Blu-ray disc format. In August 2009, the sitcom won the best comedy series TCA award and Jim Parsons (Sheldon) won the award for individual achievement in comedy. In 2010, the",
    "The Werewolf Transformation \"The Werewolf Transformation\" is the 18th episode of the fifth season of the U.S. sitcom \"The Big Bang Theory\" and the 105th episode of the show overall. It first aired on CBS on February 23, 2012. In the episode, Sheldon (Jim Parsons) abandons his methodical approach to life after failing to get a haircut from his usual barber, while Howard (Simon Helberg) has a rough time in his astronaut training. The episode was submitted for Parsons' Emmy nomination, but received mixed reactions from critics. Sheldon goes to get a haircut; his usual barber Mr. D'Onofrio is in",
    "Arno Allan Penzias Arno Allan Penzias (; born 26 April 1933) is an American physicist, radio astronomer and Nobel laureate in physics who is co-discoverer of the cosmic microwave background radiation along with Robert Woodrow Wilson, which helped establish the Big Bang theory of cosmology. Penzias was born in Munich, Germany, the son of Justine (n\u00e9e Eisenreich) and Karl Penzias, who ran a leather business. His grandparents had come to Munich from Poland and were among the leaders of the Reichenbach Strasse Shul. At age six, he and his brother Gunther were among the Jewish children evacuated to Britain as",
    "Andrew McKellar Andrew McKellar, MBE, FRSC (February 2, 1910 \u2013 May 6, 1960) was a Canadian astronomer who first detected the presence of molecular matter in interstellar space, and found the first evidence of the cosmic radiation left over from the Big Bang. He was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, to Scottish parents, one of six children of John H. and Mary Littleson McKellar. He studied mathematics and physics at the University of British Columbia, graduating in 1930. He began graduate studies at the University of California, being awarded his M.S. in 1932 and a Ph.D. the following year.",
    "John Archibald Wheeler John Archibald Wheeler (July 9, 1911 \u2013 April 13, 2008) was an American theoretical physicist. He was largely responsible for reviving interest in general relativity in the United States after World War II. Wheeler also worked with Niels Bohr in explaining the basic principles behind nuclear fission. Together with Gregory Breit, Wheeler developed the concept of the Breit\u2013Wheeler process. He is best known for linking the term \"black hole\" to objects with gravitational collapse already predicted early in the 20th century, for coining the terms \"quantum foam\", \"neutron moderator\", \"wormhole\" and \"it from bit\", and for hypothesizing",
    "Wil Wheaton Richard William Wheaton III (born July 29, 1972) is an American actor, blogger, voice actor and writer. He portrayed Wesley Crusher on the television series \"\", Gordie Lachance in the film \"Stand by Me\", Joey Trotta in \"Toy Soldiers\" and Bennett Hoenicker in \"Flubber\". Wheaton has also appeared in recurring roles as Aqualad in \"Teen Titans\", Cosmic Boy on the \"Legion of Super Heroes\" and Mike Morningstar/Darkstar in the \"Ben 10\" universe. He has also regularly appeared as a fictionalized version of himself on the CBS sitcom \"The Big Bang Theory\" and in the roles of Fawkes on",
    "The X-Files: I Want to Believe The X-Files: I Want to Believe is a 2008 American supernatural thriller film directed by Chris Carter and written by both Carter and Frank Spotnitz. It is the second feature film installment of \"The X-Files\" franchise created by Carter, following the 1998 film. Three main actors from the television series, David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, and Mitch Pileggi, reappear in the film to reprise their respective roles as Fox Mulder, Dana Scully, and Walter Skinner. Unlike the first film, the plot does not focus on the series' ongoing extraterrestrial based \"mytharc\" themes, but instead works",
    "The Beta Test Initiation \"The Beta Test Initiation\" is the fourteenth episode of the fifth season of the sitcom \"The Big Bang Theory\". The episode premiered on January 26, 2012 in the United States on CBS. In the episode, Leonard and Penny have resumed dating and they have agreed to a beta test relationship where problems are reported and fixed rather than them getting mad at each other. Leonard goes overboard listing Penny\u2019s faults though their next date at a firing range goes well except for a little accident. Sheldon and Amy have started a weekly Internet podcast on the",
    "first time on Amy's birthday. In the season eleven premiere, Sheldon proposes to Amy and she accepts. The two get married in the eleventh season finale. In the show, the song \"Soft Kitty\" was described by Sheldon as a song sung by his mother when he was ill. Its repeated use in the series popularized the song. A scene depicting the origin of the song in Sheldon's childhood is depicted in an episode of \"Young Sheldon\", which aired on February 1, 2018. It shows Sheldon's mother Mary singing the song to her son, who is suffering with the flu. In",
    "Elizabeth Rhoads Sawin in 1958. Robert Woodrow Wilson Robert Woodrow Wilson (born January 10, 1936) is an American astronomer, 1978 Nobel laureate in physics, who with Arno Allan Penzias discovered in 1964 cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB). While working on a new type of antenna at Bell Labs in Holmdel Township, New Jersey, they found a source of noise in the atmosphere that they could not explain. After removing all potential sources of noise, including pigeon droppings on the antenna, the noise was finally identified as CMB, which served as important corroboration of the Big Bang theory. Robert Woodrow Wilson",
    "January 2008 at the recommendation of Eddie Vedder, a supporter of the film and of the duo. Though Sardina had died in 2006, Diamond invited his widow and her family to be his front-row guests at his show in Milwaukee, where he told them he was moved by the film. In the CBS show, The Big Bang Theory, main characters Howard Wolowitz and Amy Farrah-Folwer are fans of Diamond's work. Diamond has been married three times. In 1963, he married his high-school sweetheart, schoolteacher Jaye Posner. They had two daughters, Marjorie and Elyn. They separated in 1967 and divorced in",
    "Mind Meld Mind Meld: Secrets Behind the Voyage of a Lifetime is a 2001 American documentary film in which actors William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy discuss the \"Star Trek\" science fiction franchise and its effects on their lives. Shatner and Nimoy portrayed the characters James T. Kirk and Spock respectively in the , the , and their film sequels. They talk about differences they had with Gene Roddenberry, the creator of \"Star Trek\", and about the strained relationships between Shatner and some of the other cast members. It was in this film that Nimoy first publicly revealed that he had",
    "Jim Parsons and Kaley Cuoco seeking approximately $1 million per episode, as well as more backend money. Simon Helberg and Kunal Nayyar negotiated together, separate from Galecki, Parsons and Cuoco's negotiations. Production was officially delayed on July 30, due to the contract negotiations, and was rescheduled for August 6, 2014. On August 4, Galecki, Parsons and Cuoco signed new contracts, worth $1 million per episode for three years, with the possibility to extend for a fourth year. The deals also include larger pieces of the show, signing bonuses, production deals and advances towards the back-end. The following day, Helberg and",
    "The Cloverfield Paradox The Cloverfield Paradox is a 2018 American science fiction horror film directed by Julius Onah, written by Oren Uziel and Doug Jung, and produced by J. J. Abramss Bad Robot Productions. It is the third installment in the \"Cloverfield\" franchise, following \"Cloverfield\" (2008) and \"10 Cloverfield Lane\" (2016). The film stars Daniel Br\u00fchl, Elizabeth Debicki, Aksel Hennie, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Chris O'Dowd, John Ortiz, David Oyelowo and Zhang Ziyi, and follows an international group of astronauts aboard a space station who, after using a particle accelerator to try to solve Earth's energy crisis, must find a way home",
    "Raj Koothrappali Rajesh Ramayan \"Raj\" Koothrappali, Ph.D. is a fictional character on the CBS television series \"The Big Bang Theory\", portrayed by British Indian actor Kunal Nayyar. Raj is based on a computer programmer that the show's co-creator, Bill Prady, knew back when he himself was a programmer. Raj is Howard Wolowitz's (Simon Helberg) best friend, with whom Raj shares what Nayyar calls a \"bromance\", although the relationship is frequently made awkward by Raj's metrosexuality. Raj works as an astrophysicist in the Physics Department at Caltech. He had selective mutism, which did not allow him to talk to women outside",
    "Stephen Root Stephen Root (born November 17, 1951) is an American actor, voice actor and comedian. He has starred as Jimmy James on the TV sitcom \"NewsRadio\", as Milton Waddams in the film \"Office Space\" (1999), and as the voices of Bill Dauterive and Buck Strickland in the animated series \"King of the Hill\". His other roles have included Captain K'Vada in the \"\" two-part episode \"\" (1991), Mr. Lund in \"O Brother, Where Art Thou?\" (2000), Gordon Pibb in \"\" (2004), Hawthorne Abendsen in seasons 2 and 3 of Amazon Studios' series \"The Man in the High Castle\", Jim",
    "The Stag Convergence \"The Stag Convergence\" is the twenty-second episode of the fifth season of the American sitcom \"The Big Bang Theory\". The episode premiered on April 26, 2012 on CBS. In it, the main characters go to the bachelor party to celebrate Howard (Simon Helberg) and Bernadette's (Melissa Rauch) upcoming marriage. At the party, a drunk Raj (Kunal Nayyar) reveals some information about Howard's past sexual encounters. When Bernadette picks them up from the party, Howard and Rajesh find out that Bernadette learned about Howard's sexual history from a video posted on the internet. The story and concept of",
    "Globe and received his first nomination for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series. In 2013 & 2014, Parsons was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award \u2013 Lead Actor in Comedy for the 5th and 6th time, respectively, both of which he won for his 3rd and 4th Primetime Emmy Awards \u2013 Lead Actor in a Comedy Series meaning that Parsons had won this award 4 times in the last 5 years, including back-to-back in 2010/2011and 2013/2014. No actor, in the history of this award has won back-to-back awards on two",
    "Elliott Gould Elliott Gould (born Elliott Goldstein; August 29, 1938) is an American actor. He began acting in Hollywood films during the 1960s. In addition to his performance in the comedy \"Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice\" (1969), for which he received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, Gould is perhaps best known for his significant leading roles in Robert Altman films, starring in \"M*A*S*H\" (1970), \"The Long Goodbye\" (1973), and \"California Split\" (1974). More recently, he has gained recognition for his recurring supporting roles as Jack Geller on \"Friends\" (1994\u20132004), as Reuben Tishkoff in",
    "show won the People's Choice Award for Favorite Comedy, while Parsons won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. On January 16, 2011, Parsons was awarded a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series \u2013 Comedy or Musical, an award that was presented by co-star Kaley Cuoco. On September 18, 2011, Parsons was again awarded an Emmy for Best Actor in a Comedy Series. On January 9, 2013, the show won People's Choice Award for Favorite Comedy for the second time. August 25, 2014, Jim Parsons was awarded an Emmy",
    "added to them, and he also points out where the writers, despite their knowledge of science, have made a mistake. He is usually not needed during a taping unless a lot of science, and especially the whiteboard, is involved. The four main male characters are all avid science fiction, fantasy, and comic book fans and memorabilia collectors. \"Star Trek\" in particular is frequently referenced and Sheldon identifies strongly with the character of Spock, so much so that when he is given a used napkin signed by Leonard Nimoy as a Christmas gift from Penny he is overwhelmed with excitement and",
    "Ralph Asher Alpher Ralph Asher Alpher (February 3, 1921 \u2013 August 12, 2007) was an American cosmologist, who carried out pioneering work in the early 1950s on the Big Bang model, including big bang nucleosynthesis and predictions of the cosmic microwave background radiation. Alpher was the son of a Belarusian Jewish immigrant, Samuel Alpher (born Ilfirovich), from Vitebsk, Belarus. His mother, Rose Maleson, died of stomach cancer in 1938, and his father later remarried. Alpher graduated at age 15 from Theodore Roosevelt High School in Washington, D.C., and held the ranks of Major and Commander of his school's Cadet program.",
    "The Recombination Hypothesis \"The Recombination Hypothesis\" is the 100th episode of the American sitcom \"The Big Bang Theory\" and the 13th episode of the series' fifth season. It premiered on CBS in the United States on January 19, 2012. In this episode, Leonard impulsively asks Penny out for dinner on a date. The story and concept of the episode was written by series co-creator Chuck Lorre. The teleplay was written by co-creator Bill Prady and writer Steven Molaro. \"The Recombination Hypothesis\" was directed by Mark Cendrowski. The episode received good reviews from television critics who spoke positive about Leonard and",
    "The Convention Conundrum \"The Convention Conundrum\" is the 14th episode of the seventh season of the U.S. sitcom \"The Big Bang Theory\" and the 149th episode of the show overall. It first aired on CBS on January 30, 2014. The episode features guest appearances by James Earl Jones and Carrie Fisher. In contrast to previous guest stars, Jones takes a liking to Sheldon (Jim Parsons) and the main plot is focused on the two having a night out together. Fisher appears when Jones suggests they knock on her door and run away. The episode received high ratings and mainly positive",
    "Dave Chappelle David Khari Webber Chappelle (; born August 24, 1973) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer. After beginning his film career in 1993 as Ahchoo in Mel Brooks's \"\", he landed supporting roles in box office hits including \"The Nutty Professor\", \"Con Air\", \"You've Got Mail\", \"Blue Streak\" and \"Undercover Brother\". His first lead role was in the 1998 comedy film \"Half Baked\", which he co-wrote with Neal Brennan. Chappelle also starred in the ABC TV series \"Buddies\". His comedy focuses on racism, relationship problems, social problems, politics, current events, and pop culture. In 2003, Chappelle"
  ],
  [
    "created the formal German Confederation in 1815, a Federal Assembly convened at the Free City of Frankfurt, representing not the people of the individual German Lands but their sovereigns. Subsequently, Frankfurt briefly became the official German capital during the short-lived Revolutions of 1848 in the German states. It was only during the 1871 Unification of Germany that the newly unified German Empire was first assigned an official capital. Since Berlin was the capital of Prussia, the leading state of the new Reich, it became the capital of Germany as well. Berlin had been the capital of Prussia and its predecessor,",
    "most populous state lying entirely in Europe, as well as the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is a very decentralized country. Its capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while Frankfurt serves as its financial capital and has the country's busiest airport. Germany's largest urban area is the Ruhr, with its main centres of Dortmund and Essen. The country's other major cities are Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Stuttgart, D\u00fcsseldorf, Leipzig, Dresden, Bremen, Hannover, and Nuremberg. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity. A region named Germania was documented before 100 AD.",
    "Germany Germany ( ), officially the Federal Republic of Germany (, ), is a country in Central and Western Europe, lying between the Baltic and North seas to the north, and the Alps to the south. It borders Denmark to the north, Poland and the Czech Republic to the east, Austria and Switzerland to the south, and France, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands to the west. Germany includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of , and has a largely temperate seasonal climate. With nearly 83 million inhabitants, it is the second most populous state of Europe after Russia, the",
    "still legally occupied territory, and would remain so for 45 years. In 1990, with the reunification of Germany, Berlin was also reunified and became the capital of the enlarged Federal Republic of Germany. There was some debate, however, on whether the seat of government should move to Berlin. Many believed that Bonn should remain the seat of government \u2013 a situation analogus to that of the Netherlands, where Amsterdam is the capital but The Hague is the seat of government. In 1991, after an emotional debate, the Bundestag voted to move the seat of government to Berlin by 1999. Although",
    "Holy Roman Empire, used to have Aachen as its preferred seat of government during Charlemagne's reign, and until 1531 it was the place where 31 Holy Roman Emperors were crowned Kings of the Germans. The coronation later moved to Frankfurt. However after Charlemagne, none of the subsequent Holy Roman Emperors moved to Aachen or Frankfurt, instead retaining their own original constituent kingdom or principality as base or moving into temporary Royal palaces dotted around the confederate realm known as Kaiserpfalz. The last imperial ruling house (the Habsburgs) had Vienna as its permanent seat of government. After the Congress of Vienna",
    "Munich Munich (; ; ) is the capital and most populous city of the second most populous German federal state of Bavaria, and, with a population of around 1.5 million, it is the third-largest city of Germany after Berlin and Hamburg, as well as the 12th-largest city in the European Union. The city's metropolitan region is home to 6 million people. Straddling the banks of the River Isar (a tributary of the Danube) north of the Bavarian Alps, it is the seat of the Bavarian administrative region of Upper Bavaria, while being the most densely populated municipality in Germany (4,500",
    "event known as the German Reunification. Elections for new state parliaments were held in the five states on October 14, and the Christian Democratic Union of Germany became the largest party in all states except Brandenburg, where the Social Democratic Party of Germany became the largest party. The reunified Berlin became the capital of Germany on October 3, although the government continued to have its seat in Bonn until 1999. December 2 marks the first elections for the city parliament after reunification. The first federal election after reunification, the German federal election, 1990, took place on December 2 in that",
    "Germany as in Israel, bringing the total Jewish population to more than 200,000, compared to 30,000 prior to German reunification. Large cities with significant Jewish populations include Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich. Around 250,000 active Buddhists live in Germany; 50% of them are Asian immigrants. Census results were as follows: German is the only official and most widely spoken language. Standard German is understood throughout the country. Danish, Low German, Low Rhenish, the Sorbian languages (Lower Sorbian and Upper Sorbian), and the two Frisian languages, Saterfrisian and North Frisian, are officially recognized and protected as minority languages by the European Charter",
    "Chemnitz ' (), known from 1953 to 1990 as ', is the third-largest city in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. Chemnitz is an independent city which is not part of any county and seat of the . Located in the northern foothills of the Ore Mountains, it is part of the Central German Metropolitan Region. The city's economy is based on the service sector and manufacturing industry. Chemnitz University of Technology has around 10,000 students. Chemnitz is named after the river Chemnitz, a small tributary of the Zwickau Mulde. The word \"Chemnitz\" is from the Sorbian language (), and",
    "Magdeburg Magdeburg (; Low Saxon: \"Meideborg\", ) is the capital city and the second largest city of the state of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated on the Elbe River. Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the archbishopric of Magdeburg, was buried in the town's cathedral after his death. Magdeburg's version of German town law, known as Magdeburg rights, spread throughout Central and Eastern Europe. Until 1631, Magdeburg was one of the largest and most prosperous German cities, and a notable member of the Hanseatic League. Magdeburg has been destroyed twice in its history. The Catholic League",
    "Dresden Dresden (; Upper and Lower Sorbian: \"Drje\u017ed\u017aany\"; ; ) is the capital city and, after Leipzig, the second-largest city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the border with the Czech Republic. Dresden has a long history as the capital and royal residence for the Electors and Kings of Saxony, who for centuries furnished the city with cultural and artistic splendor, and was once by personal union the family seat of Polish monarchs. The city was known as the Jewel Box, because of its baroque and rococo",
    "Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; \"Frank ford at the Main\"), is a metropolis and the largest city of the German federal state of Hesse, and its 746,878 (2017) inhabitants make it the fifth-largest city of Germany after Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, and Cologne. On the River Main (a tributary of the Rhine), it forms a continuous conurbation with the neighbouring city of Offenbach am Main, and its urban area has a population of 2.3 million. The city is at the centre of the larger Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region, which has a population of 5.8 million and is Germany's second-largest metropolitan",
    "(FRG, West Germany). The government was formed under Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and his conservative CDU/CSU coalition. The CDU/CSU was in power during most of the period since 1949. The capital was Bonn until it was moved to Berlin in 1990. In 1990 FRG absorbed East Germany and gained full sovereignty over Berlin. At all points West Germany was much larger and richer than East Germany, which became a dictatorship under the control of the Communist Party and was closely monitored by Moscow. Germany, especially Berlin, was a cockpit of the Cold War, with NATO and the Warsaw Pact assembling major",
    "Brandenburg, since 1518. Berlin remained the capital of the united Germany until 1945. However, for a period of a few months following the First World War, the national assembly met in Weimar because civil war was ravaging Berlin. In 1945, Germany was occupied by the Allies as the outcome of World War II, and Berlin ceased to be the capital of a sovereign German state. In 1949, with sovereignty regained the country split up into West Germany and East Germany. Berlin was also divided, into West Berlin and East Berlin. Originally, Frankfurt was to be the provisional capital of West",
    "Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the federal state of Hesse. In January 2018, it had 289,544 inhabitants, plus approximately 19,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area is home to approx. 560,000 people. The city, together with nearby Frankfurt am Main, Darmstadt, and Mainz, is part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Region, a metropolitan area with a combined population of about 5.8 million people. Wiesbaden is one of the oldest spa towns in Europe. Its name translates to \"meadow baths\", a reference to the",
    "in Hesse Hit Radio FFH, Planet Radio, Harmony FM, Radio BOB and Antenne Frankfurt are the most popular. With Hesse's largest city Frankfurt am Main being home of the European Central Bank (ECB), the German Bundesbank and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, Hesse is home to the financial capital of mainland Europe. Furthermore, Hesse has always been one of the largest and healthiest economies in Germany. Its GDP in 2013 exceeded 236 billion Euros (about 316 bn US$). This makes Hesse itself one of the largest economies in Europe and the 38th largest in the world. According to GDP-per-capita figures, Hesse",
    "Neuch\u00e2tel Neuch\u00e2tel (), or Neuchatel; ( \"new\" and ' \"castle\" (); ; ; or ') is a town, a municipality, and the capital of the Swiss canton of Neuch\u00e2tel on Lake Neuch\u00e2tel. The city has approximately 34,000 inhabitants (80,000 in the metropolitan area). The city is sometimes referred to historically by the German name , which has the same meaning. It was originally part of the Holy Roman Empire and later under Prussian control from 1707 until 1848. The official language of Neuch\u00e2tel is French. Neuch\u00e2tel is a pilot of the Council of Europe and the European Commission Intercultural Cities",
    "Berlin Berlin (; ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3,711,930 (2017) inhabitants make it the second most populous city proper of the European Union after London. The city is one of Germany's 16 federal states. It is surrounded by the state of Brandenburg and forms the center of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region, which is, with 6,004,857 (2015) inhabitants and area of 30,370 square km, Germany's third-largest metropolitan region after the Rhine-Ruhr and Rhine-Main regions. Berlin straddles the banks of the River Spree, which flows into the River Havel (a tributary of",
    "Stuttgart Stuttgart ( ; ; Swabian: , ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-W\u00fcrttemberg. Stuttgart is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known locally as the \"Stuttgart Cauldron.\" It lies an hour from the Swabian Jura and the Black Forest. Its urban area has a population of 609,219, making it the sixth largest city in Germany. 2.7 million people live in the city's administrative region and another 5.3 million people in its metropolitan area, making it the fourth largest metropolitan area in Germany. The city and metropolitan area are consistently",
    "Hesse Hesse () or Hessia ( , Hessian dialect: \"Hesse\" ), officially the State of Hesse (German: ), is a federal state (\"Land\") of the Federal Republic of Germany, with just over six million inhabitants. The state capital is Wiesbaden; the largest city is Frankfurt am Main. As a cultural region, Hesse also includes the area known as Rhenish Hesse (Rheinhessen) in the neighbouring state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The German name \"Hessen\", like the name of other German regions (\"Schwaben\" \"Swabia\", \"Franken\" \"Franconia\", \"Bayern\" \"Bavaria\", \"Sachsen\" \"Saxony\") is derived from the dative plural form of the name of the inhabitants or",
    "Names of Germany Because of Germany's geographic position in the centre of Europe, as well as its long history as a non-united region of distinct tribes and states, there are many widely varying names of Germany in different languages, perhaps more so than for any other European nation. For example, the German language, the country is known as , in Spanish as , in French as , in Italian as (although Germans are called ), in Polish as , and in Finnish as . In general, the names for Germany can be arranged in six main groups according to their",
    "in areas such as business activity, human capital, information and technology exchange, cultural experience, and political engagement. <br> Metropolitan regions in Germany The metropolitan regions in Germany are eleven densely populated areas in the Federal Republic of Germany. They comprise the major German cities and their surrounding catchment areas and form the political, commercial and cultural centres of the country. The eleven metropolitan regions in Germany were organised into political units for planning purposes. Using a narrower definition of metropolises, only four cities surpass the threshold of at least one million inhabitants within its administrative borders, namely: Berlin, Hamburg, Munich",
    "Karlsruhe Karlsruhe (; formerly Carlsruhe) is the second-largest city of the German federal state of Baden-W\u00fcrttemberg after its capital of Stuttgart, and its 309,999 (2016) inhabitants make it the 21st largest city of Germany. On the right bank of the Rhine, the city lies near the French-German border, between the Mannheim/Ludwigshafen conurbation to the north, and the Strasbourg/Kehl conurbation to the south. It is the largest city of Baden, a region named after Hohenbaden Castle in the city of Baden-Baden. Karlsruhe is also the largest city in the South Franconian dialect area (transitional dialects between Central and Upper German), the",
    "Yekaterinburg Yekaterinburg (), alternatively romanized Ekaterinburg, is the fourth-largest city in Russia and the administrative centre of Sverdlovsk Oblast, located on the Iset River east of the Ural Mountains, in the middle of the Eurasian continent, at the boundary between Asia and Europe. It is the main cultural and industrial center of the oblast. In 2017, it had an estimated population of 1,488,791. Yekaterinburg has been dubbed the \"third capital of Russia\", as it is ranked third by the size of economy, culture, transportation and tourism. It is located about to the east of Moscow. Yekaterinburg was founded on 18",
    "and as a minority language in various countries. To cover this language area, they are often referred to as the German-speaking countries, the German-speaking area (), or equivalently German-speaking Europe (non-European German-speaking communities are not commonly included in the concept). German is the main language of approximately 95 to 100 million people in Europe, or 13.3% of all Europeans, being the second most spoken native language in Europe after Russian (with 144 million speakers), above French (with 66.5 million) and English (with 64.2 million). The European countries with German-speaking majorities are Germany (95%, 78.3 million), Austria (89%, 7.4 million) and",
    "Saalfeld Saalfeld () is a town in Germany, capital of the Saalfeld-Rudolstadt district of Thuringia. It is best known internationally as the ancestral seat of the Saxe-Coburg and Gotha branch of the Saxon House of Wettin, which was renamed the House of Windsor during their British reign in 1917. The town is situated in the valley of the Saale River north of the Thuringian Highland, south of the German cultural centre Weimar. Saalfeld station is currently served by Intercity-Express trains running from Berlin to Munich. Saalfeld has 28,000 inhabitants. Together with neighbouring Rudolstadt and Bad Blankenburg, Saalfeld forms a tri-city",
    "States of Germany Germany is a federal republic consisting of sixteen states (, plural ; informally and very commonly , plural ). Since today's Germany was formed from an earlier collection of several states, it has a federal constitution, and the constituent states retain a measure of sovereignty. With an emphasis on geographical conditions, Berlin and Hamburg are frequently called ' (city-states), as is the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, which in fact includes the cities of and . The remaining 13 states are called ' (literally: \"area states\"). The creation of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949 was",
    "D.C., which is not part of any U.S. state but borders Maryland and Virginia; Berlin, which is a state of Germany in its own right and forms an enclave within the much larger state of Brandenburg; and the Australian Capital Territory, a territory of Australia which includes the capital city of Australia, Canberra. Federal capital A federal capital is a political entity, often a municipality or capital city, that serves as the seat of the federal government. A federal capital is typically a city that physically encompasses the offices and meeting places of its respective government, where its location and",
    "Ingolstadt Ingolstadt (; ) is a city in Bavaria, Germany, on the banks of the River Danube, in the centre of Bavaria. In 2016, it had 133,638 citizens, making it the fifth largest city in Bavaria. It is part of the Munich Metropolitan Region. The \"Illuminati\", an Age of Enlightenment secret society, was founded in Ingolstadt in the late 18th century. Ingolstadt is a setting in the novel \"Frankenstein\" by Mary Shelley, where the scientist Victor Frankenstein creates his monster. It is the site of the headquarters of the German automobile manufacturer Audi, defence aircraft manufacturer Airbus (formerly Cassidian Air",
    "which is reachable by a glass elevator. On a clear day, the tower offers a comprehensive view of western Berlin. Geography of Berlin Berlin is the capital city of Germany and one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million people, Berlin is the second most populous city proper, the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union, and the largest German city. Located in northeastern Germany on the River Spree, it is the center of the Berlin-Brandenburg Metropolitan Region, which has about 6 million residents from over 180 nations. Due to its location in",
    "Geography of Berlin Berlin is the capital city of Germany and one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million people, Berlin is the second most populous city proper, the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union, and the largest German city. Located in northeastern Germany on the River Spree, it is the center of the Berlin-Brandenburg Metropolitan Region, which has about 6 million residents from over 180 nations. Due to its location in the European Plain, Berlin is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. Around one third of the city's area is composed",
    "in the United States (changed from China due to the SARS epidemic) and won by Germany, who defeated Sweden by 2\u20131 in extra time. Earlier in the semifinals they had disposed of the defending champions and hosts, the United States, 3\u20130. Germany hosted the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Thirty-two nations competed in the tournament, with matches played in a dozen cities ranging from Hamburg in the north to Munich in the south; Leipzig was the only former East city to hold matches (the matches at Berlin were held at former West Berliner territory). The opening match (Germany vs Costa Rica)",
    "Metropolitan regions in Germany The metropolitan regions in Germany are eleven densely populated areas in the Federal Republic of Germany. They comprise the major German cities and their surrounding catchment areas and form the political, commercial and cultural centres of the country. The eleven metropolitan regions in Germany were organised into political units for planning purposes. Using a narrower definition of metropolises, only four cities surpass the threshold of at least one million inhabitants within its administrative borders, namely: Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and Cologne. For urban centres outside metropolitan areas, that generate a similar attraction at smaller scale for their",
    "Coburg Coburg () is a town located on the Itz river in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. Long part of one of the Thuringian states of the Wettin line, it joined Bavaria by popular vote only in 1920. Until the revolution of 1918, it was one of the capitals of the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. Through successful dynastic policies, the ruling princely family married into several of the royal families of Europe, most notably in the person of Prince Albert, who married Queen Victoria in 1840. As a result of these close",
    "Politics of Berlin Berlin is a city-state and the capital of the Federal Republic of Germany. The President of Germany, whose functions are primarily ceremonial under the German constitution, has his official residence in Schloss Bellevue. Berlin is the seat of the German executive, housed in the Chancellery (the \"Bundeskanzleramt\"). Facing the Chancellery is the Bundestag, the German Parliament, housed in the renovated Reichstag building since the government's move to Berlin in 1998. The Bundesrat (\"federal council\", functioning as an upper house) represents the Federal States (\"Bundesl\u00e4nder\") of Germany and has its seat at the former Prussian House of Lords.",
    "including the Arena im Aufeld, the tennis centre Allround, the tennis courts by the local ice sport association 1872, the courts in St. Georgen, the courts at the Ratzersdorfer Pond, the courts in the Lower Austrian state sports school and the courts of the leisure park Megafun. St P\u00f6lten is twinned with the following cities: Sankt P\u00f6lten Sankt P\u00f6lten (), mostly abbreviated to the official name St. P\u00f6lten, is the capital and largest city of the State of Lower Austria in northeast Austria, with 52,716 inhabitants as of 1 January 2015. St P\u00f6lten is a city with its own statute",
    "spoken after French and English. In Mexico there are also large populations of German ancestry, mainly in the cities of: Mexico City, Puebla, Mazatl\u00e1n, Tapachula, Ecatepec de Morelos, and larger populations scattered in the states of Chihuahua, Durango, and Zacatecas. In the United States, the states of North Dakota and South Dakota are the only states where German is the most common language spoken at home after English. German geographical names can be found throughout the Midwest region of the country, such as New Ulm and many other towns in Minnesota; Bismarck (North Dakota's state capital), Munich, Karlsruhe, and Strasburg",
    "German reunification The German reunification () was the process in 1990 in which the German Democratic Republic (GDR, colloquially East Germany; German: ) became part of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, colloquially West Germany; German: ) to form the reunited nation of Germany, and when Berlin reunited into a single city, as provided by its then (constitution) Article 23. The end of the unification process is officially referred to as German unity (), celebrated on 3 October (German Unity Day) (). Following German reunification, Berlin was once again designated as the capital of united Germany. The East German government",
    "held during the worldwide Great Depression, suffered from low European participation due to high cost of travel overseas. Already in spring of 1931 it had been decided that the 1936 Summer Olympics were to be held in Berlin. Germany should host the 1936 Winter Olympics, too. From 1933 onwards, Germany became known as Nazi Germany, the change being marked also by the use of the Nazi party flag. To host the winter event, two Bavarian towns were merged to form Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Alpine skiing made its first appearance as the combined, which added the results of both the downhill and slalom",
    "Bayreuth Bayreuth (; ) (Bavarian: Bareid) is a medium-sized city in northern Bavaria, Germany, on the Red Main river in a valley between the Franconian Jura and the Fichtelgebirge Mountains. The town's roots date back to 1194. In the early 21st century, it is the capital of Upper Franconia and has a population of 72,148 (2015). It is world-famous for its annual Bayreuth Festival, at which performances of operas by the 19th-century German composer Richard Wagner are presented. The town is believed to have been founded by the counts of Andechs probably around the mid-12th century, but was first mentioned",
    "Aalen Aalen () is a former Free Imperial City located in the eastern part of the German state of Baden-W\u00fcrttemberg, about east of Stuttgart and north of Ulm. It is the seat of the Ostalbkreis district and is its largest town. It is also the largest town in the Ostw\u00fcrttemberg region. Since 1956, Aalen has had the status of Gro\u00dfe Kreisstadt (major district town). It is noted for its many half-timbered houses constructed from the 16th century through the 18th century. With an area of 146.63 km, Aalen is ranked 7th in Baden-W\u00fcrttemberg and 2nd within the Government Region of",
    "St. Gallen St. Gallen or traditionally St Gall, in German sometimes Sankt Gallen (; ; ; ; ) is a Swiss town and the capital of the canton of St. Gallen. It evolved from the hermitage of Saint Gall, founded in the 7th century. Today, it is a large urban agglomeration (with around 160,000 inhabitants) and represents the center of eastern Switzerland. Its economy consists mainly of the service sector. Internationally, the town is known as the home of the University of St. Gallen. The main tourist attraction is the Abbey of Saint Gall, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The",
    "Gotha Gotha () is the fifth-largest city in Thuringia, Germany, located west of Erfurt and east of Eisenach with a population of 44,000. The city is the capital of the district of Gotha and was also a residence of the Ernestine Wettins from 1640 until the end of monarchy in Germany in 1918. The House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha originating here spawned many European rulers, including the royal houses of the United Kingdom, Belgium, Portugal (until 1910) and Bulgaria (until 1946). In the Middle Ages, Gotha was a rich trading town on the trade route \"Via Regia\" and between 1650",
    "Strasbourg Strasbourg (, ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Grand Est region of France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located at the border with Germany in the historic region of Alsace, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin department. In 2014, the city proper had 276,170 inhabitants and both the Eurom\u00e9tropole de Strasbourg (Greater Strasbourg) and the Arrondissement of Strasbourg had 484,157 inhabitants. Strasbourg's metropolitan area had a population of 773,347 in 2013 (not counting the section across the border in Germany), making it the ninth largest metro area in France",
    "Saxony Saxony (, ), officially the Free State of Saxony (German: , Upper Sorbian: ), is a landlocked federal state of Germany, bordering the federal states of Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland (Lower Silesian and Lubusz Voivodeships) and the Czech Republic (Karlovy Vary, Liberec, and \u00dast\u00ed nad Labem Regions). Its capital is Dresden, and its largest city is Leipzig. Saxony is the 10th-largest of Germany's 16 states, with an area of , and the sixth-most populous, with 4 million people. The history of the state of Saxony spans more than a millennium.",
    "forested uplands of central Germany and the low-lying lands of northern Germany (lowest point: Neuendorf-Sachsenbande at below sea level), traversed by some of Europe's major rivers such as the Rhine, Danube and Elbe. Germany shares borders with nine European countries, second only to Russia: Denmark in the north, Poland and the Czech Republic in the east, Switzerland (its only non-EU neighbor) and Austria in the south, France in the southwest and Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands in the west. Germany is in Western and Central Europe, bordering Denmark in the north, Poland and the Czech Republic in the east, Austria",
    "the most common language spoken at home after English. German geographical names can be found throughout the Midwest region of the country, such as New Ulm and many other towns in Minnesota; Bismarck (North Dakota's state capital), Munich, Karlsruhe, and Strasburg (named after a town near Odessa in Ukraine) in North Dakota; New Braunfels, Fredericksburg, Weimar, and Muenster in Texas; Corn (formerly Korn), Kiefer and Berlin in Oklahoma; and Kiel, Berlin, and Germantown in Wisconsin. In Brazil, the largest concentrations of German speakers are in the states of Rio Grande do Sul (where Riograndenser Hunsr\u00fcckisch developed), Santa Catarina, Paran\u00e1, S\u00e3o",
    "the largest lakes being Lake Constance (total area of , with 62% of the shore being German; international borders are not defined on the lake itself), M\u00fcritz () and Chiemsee (). The majority of Germany is covered by either arable land (33.95%); permanent crops cover 0.57% of the land. Germany has a total of of coastline, and borders totaling (clockwise from north: Denmark , Poland , Czech Republic , Austria , Switzerland , France , Luxembourg , Belgium , Netherlands ). The German-Austrian border crosses itself near Jungholz. The border with Belgium includes 5 German exclaves because the Vennbahn railway",
    "Offenburg Offenburg (\"open borough\" - coat of arms showing open gates; Fr. \"Offenbourg\") is a city located in the state of Baden-W\u00fcrttemberg, Germany. With about 57,000 inhabitants (2013), it is the largest city and the administrative capital of the Ortenaukreis. Offenburg is located approximately 15 km east of the river Rhine between Karlsruhe and Freiburg. The French city of Strasbourg lies 20 km northwest across the Rhine. Offenburg is situated at the mouth of the Kinzig river valley and at the foot of the Black Forest. The Kinzig flows out of the Black Forest and meets the Rhine near Kehl.",
    "Bavaria Bavaria (; German and Bavarian: \"Bayern\" ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (German and Bavarian: \"Freistaat Bayern\" ), is a landlocked federal state of Germany, occupying its southeastern corner. With an area of 70,550.19 square kilometres (27,200 sq mi), Bavaria is the largest German state by land area. Its territory comprises roughly a fifth of the total land area of Germany. With 13 million inhabitants, it is Germany's second-most-populous state after North Rhine-Westphalia. Bavaria's capital and largest city, Munich, is the third-largest city in Germany. The history of Bavaria stretches from its earliest settlement and formation as",
    "is on Belgian territory crossing in and out of Germany. The main rivers in Germany are: Further important rivers include the Saale and the Main in central Germany, the Neckar in the southwest, the Weser in the North and the Oder at the eastern border. Throughout the Karst rocks many caves were formed especially in the valley of the H\u00f6nne. The biggest culture cave of Europe is located in Balve. Phytogeographically, Germany is shared between the Atlantic European and Central European provinces of the Circumboreal Region within the Boreal Kingdom. The territory of Germany can be subdivided into two ecoregions:",
    "with Danish, Norwegian and Swedish, although those belong to the North Germanic group. German is the second most widely spoken Germanic language, after English. One of the major languages of the world, German is the first language of almost 100 million people worldwide and the most widely spoken native language in the European Union. Together with French, German is the second most commonly spoken foreign language in the EU after English, making it the second biggest language in the EU in terms of overall speakers. German is also the second most widely taught foreign language in the EU after English",
    "Leipzig Leipzig (; ) is the most populous city in the federal state of Saxony, Germany. With a population of 591,686 inhabitants as of 30 June 2018, (1.1 million residents in the larger urban zone) it is Germany's tenth most populous city. Leipzig is located about southwest of Berlin at the confluence of the White Elster, Plei\u00dfe and Parthe rivers at the southern end of the North German Plain. Leipzig has been a trade city since at least the time of the Holy Roman Empire. The city sits at the intersection of the Via Regia and the Via Imperii, two",
    "Kitzingen Kitzingen is a town in the German state of Bavaria, capital of the district Kitzingen. It is part of the Franconia geographical region and has around 21,000 inhabitants. Surrounded by vineyards, Kitzingen County is the largest wine producer in Bavaria. It is said to be Franconia's wine trade center. According to legend, Kitzingen was founded when the Countess of Schwanberg lost her jeweled scarf while standing on the ramparts of her castle. The castle was located high above the fertile section of the Main River Valley where Kitzingen now lies. The Countess promised to build a cloister on the",
    "Berlin, and investment in commerce and industry was encouraged by special concessionary tax legislation. The results of such efforts, combined with effective city administration and the West Berliners' energy and spirit, were encouraging. West Berlin's morale was sustained, and its industrial production considerably surpassed the pre-war level. The Final Settlement Treaty ended Berlin's special status as a separate area under Four Power control. Under the terms of the treaty between West and East Germany, Berlin became the capital of a unified Germany. The Bundestag voted in June 1991 to make Berlin the seat of government. The Government of Germany asked",
    "Koblenz Koblenz (; ), spelled Coblenz before 1926, is a German city situated on both banks of the Rhine where it is joined by the Moselle. Koblenz was established as a Roman military post by Drusus around 8 B.C. Its name originates in the Latin \"\", meaning \"(at the) confluence\" of the two rivers. The actual confluence is today known as the \"German Corner\", a symbol of German reunification that features an equestrian statue of Emperor William I. The city celebrated its 2000th anniversary in 1992. After Mainz and Ludwigshafen am Rhein, it is the third-largest city in Rhineland-Palatinate, with",
    "and the Upper Neckar Valley up to the bishop seat of Rottenburg, and Southern Baden (the Catholic archbishop has its seat in Freiburg) have traditionally been bastions of Roman Catholicism. Largest communities of foreigners are listed below : (by 31.12.2017) Baden-W\u00fcrttemberg Baden-W\u00fcrttemberg (; ) is a state in southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the border with France. It is Germany\u2019s third-largest state, with an area of and 10.8 million inhabitants. Baden-W\u00fcrttemberg is a parliamentary republic and partly sovereign, federated state which was formed in 1952 by a merger of the states of W\u00fcrttemberg-Baden, Baden und W\u00fcrttemberg-Hohenzollern. The",
    "German language German ( ) is a West Germanic language that is mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, South Tyrol (Italy), the German-speaking Community of Belgium, and Liechtenstein. It is also one of the three official languages of Luxembourg and a co-official language in the Opole Voivodeship in Poland. The languages which are most similar to German are the other members of the West Germanic language branch: Afrikaans, Dutch, English, the Frisian languages, Low German/Low Saxon, Luxembourgish, and Yiddish. There are also strong similarities in vocabulary",
    "D\u00fcsseldorf experiences moderate winters with little snowfall and mild to warm summers. The average annual temperature is with an average yearly precipitation of . The dominant wind direction is from the west with velocities in the range of 3 to 4 m/s (7\u20139 mph), with gusts of 3.5 \u22124.8 m/s (8\u201310.7 mph). The wind is calm (defined as being under 2 m/s or 4.5 mph) about 35% of the time, more frequently at night and in the winter. With a population of 612,178 within the city boundaries (31 December 2015), D\u00fcsseldorf is Germany's seventh largest city. Its population surpassed the",
    "Institutional seats of the European Union The seven institutions of the European Union (EU) are seated in four different cities, \"viz.\" Brussels, Frankfurt, Luxembourg and Strasbourg, rather than being concentrated in a single capital city. The EU agencies and other bodies are located all across the union, but usually not fixed in the treaties. The Hague is the only exception, as the fixed seat of the European Police Office (Europol). Over the years, Brussels has become the principal seat, with each major institution and now the European Council being based wholly or in part there, leading to it being popularly",
    "Saarland Saarland (, ; ) is a state of Germany. Saarland is located in western Germany covering an area of and a population of 995,600 (2015), the smallest German state in both area and population apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg. Saarbr\u00fccken is the state capital and largest city, while other major cities include Neunkirchen and Saarlouis. Saarland is surrounded by France to the west and the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate to the east. Saarland was established in 1920 after World War I as the Territory of the Saar Basin, formed from land of Prussia and Bavaria",
    "Geography of Germany Germany is a country in west-central Europe, that stretches from the Alps, across the North European Plain to the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. Germany has the second largest population in Europe (after the European part of Russia) and is seventh largest in area. The territory of Germany covers , consisting of of land and of waters. Elevation ranges from the mountains of the Alps (highest point: the Zugspitze at ) in the south to the shores of the North Sea (Nordsee) in the northwest and the Baltic Sea (Ostsee) in the northeast. Between lie the",
    "Hanover Hanover or Hannover (; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German federal state of Lower Saxony, and its 535,061 (2017) inhabitants make it the thirteenth largest city of Germany, as well as the third-largest city of Northern Germany after Hamburg and Bremen. The city lies at the confluence of the River Leine (progression: ) and its tributary Ihme, in the south of the North German Plain, and is the largest city of the Hannover\u2013Braunschweig\u2013G\u00f6ttingen\u2013Wolfsburg Metropolitan Region. It is the fifth-largest city in the Low German dialect area after Hamburg, Dortmund, Essen, and Bremen. Before it",
    "control, and were not typically involved in daily activities or decisions. After 1815, the urban population grew rapidly, due primarily to the influx of young people from the rural areas. Berlin grew from 172,000 people in 1800 to 826,000 in 1870; Hamburg grew from 130,000 to 290,000; Munich from 40,000 to 269,000; (now ) from 60,000 to 208,000; Dresden from 60,000 to 177,000; (now Kaliningrad) from 55,000 to 112,000. Offsetting this growth, there was extensive emigration, especially to the United States. Emigration totaled 480,000 in the 1840s, 1,200,000 in the 1850s, and 780,000 in the 1860s. Further efforts to improve",
    "Bavaria)), in contrast to the almost entirely Protestant Northern Germany. Due to the immigration of non-Christians, mainly Turks (see Turks in Germany) during the last decades of the twentieth century, there is also a small number (roughly 250.000, i.e. 2-3% of the population) of Muslims. Where a city has different names in English and German, the English name is given first. Economically, Southern Germany is the strongest part of Germany, with Baden-W\u00fcrttemberg and Bavaria the powerhouses of manufacturing, especially in the automobile and machinery industry. Furthermore, it is home to some of the country's most prestigious universities (such as the",
    "Thuringia Thuringia (), officially the Free State of Thuringia (; , ), is a state of Germany. Thuringia is located in central Germany covering an area of and a population of 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest German state by area and the fifth smallest by population. Erfurt is the state capital and largest city, while other major cities include Jena, Gera, and Weimar. Thuringia is surrounded by the states of Bavaria, Hesse, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. Most of Thuringia is within the watershed of the Saale, a left tributary of the Elbe, and has been known",
    "Bratislava Bratislava (; , or \"\" , ) is the capital of Slovakia. With a population of about 450,000, it is one of the smaller capitals of Europe but still the country's largest city. The greater metropolitan area is home to more than 650,000 people. Bratislava is in southwestern Slovakia, occupying both banks of the River Danube and the left bank of the River Morava. Bordering Austria and Hungary, it is the only national capital that borders two sovereign states. The city's history has been strongly influenced by people of different nations and religions, namely (in alphabetical order) Austrians, Bulgarians,",
    "Chi\u0219in\u0103u Chi\u0219in\u0103u (; ), also known as Kishinev (), is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Moldova. The city is Moldova's main industrial and commercial center, and is located in the middle of the country, on the river B\u00e2c. According to the results of the 2014 census, the city proper had a population of 532,513, while the number of population in the Municipality of Chi\u0219in\u0103u (which includes the city itself and other nearby communities) was 662,836. Chi\u0219in\u0103u is the most economically prosperous locality in Moldova and its largest transportation hub. The origin of the city's name is",
    "Rhine and Mosel rivers\u2014is seen as the cultural border between Southern and Western Germany. Two of the most populous states of Germany, Baden-W\u00fcrttemberg and Bavaria, are part of Southern Germany. They have a combined population of 23,5 million people. In the broader sense (with Rhineland-Palatinate and the Saarland), Southern Germany includes roughly 30 million people. Thus, about 40% of the German population and almost 30% of all native speakers of the German language live there. The region has a Catholic majority, but also a significant Lutheran Protestant population (especially in Northern W\u00fcrttemberg and some parts of Baden and Franconia (Northern",
    "Regensburg Regensburg (; ; ; ; ; older English: \"Ratisbon\"; Bavarian: \"Rengschburg\" or \"Rengschburch\") is a city in south-east Germany, at the confluence of the Danube, Naab and Regen rivers. With more than 150,000 inhabitants, Regensburg is the fourth-largest city in the State of Bavaria after Munich, Nuremberg and Augsburg. The city is the political, economic and cultural centre and capital of the Upper Palatinate. The medieval centre of the city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In 2014, Regensburg was among the top sights and travel attractions in Germany. The first settlements in Regensburg date from the Stone Age."
  ],
  [],
  []
]